tushanshu_logs | May catch-all

Entry tags:

May catch-all

Characters: Open to all!
Date: May
Location: Keelai
Warnings/Rating: N/A -- will change if necessary. Shenanigans?

A. OTA - No matter the day, even if it's raining, Toph can likely be found somewhere on the Turtle, training in one of the disciplines: earthbending, metalbending, sandbending, or blind combat. Interruptions or onlookers are not a problem; she's more than happy to have an audience -- and will even have the tendency to show off if she discovers someone watching.

B. OTA - During her previous visit to the Turtle, the kedan gang activity was of interest to Toph -- something to keep at least a halfway decent idea of during her tenure, if only for her own interests. The new Keelai is different, though . . . and something that needs to be re-explored and understood, especially in light of people running around stealing soul gems. Feel free to run into Toph at nearly any hour (even wee hours of the morning) in some of the more dangerous sections of the city, poking around and possibly getting herself into shenanigans. (Hey, I did promise shenanigans up above.)

C. Closed to Katara - The shopping had been Katara's idea. It certainly hadn't been Toph's -- would never have been Toph's, who didn't put nearly as much stock in her appearance, and for whom window shopping was a meaningless term.

But even so, Katara had gotten her out with only a minor amount of whining and sarcasm. Partly this might have been because they really hadn't spent much time together outside of Toph's re-arrival, and though fractious as the two could be sometimes, Katara was still family -- something Toph had had precious little of in previous months. Connection was still something Toph craved, even if shopping wasn't the most ideal of circumstances. Additionally, there were still things she wanted to understand -- still holes in her piecing together of the last couple of years.

So Toph went shopping, contenting herself with drifting her hands across fabrics for the varying textures, doing her best to resist any goads into trying something new (not always winning), and getting in wisecracks when she could.

Maybe Katara had taken pity on her, because the next suggestion the older girl made was far more appealing:

Mud.

With the influx of spring rains, some enterprising kedan had set up their own miniature day spa, inviting all to enjoy a mud bath with mud "carted from the far side of the turtle, in a location left pristine and untouched."

That might have been true, or it might have been hogwash (literally), but mud was mud as far as Toph was concerned, and you couldn't go wrong with a good wallowing. So it was with great aplomb that Toph squished into the mud pool -- a large, open bath of it occupied only by a couple of other kedan on the far side. The muck squished upward between her toes, prompting a full-fledged grin.

D. Closed to Mike - Just because she'd agreed to this didn't mean she was happy about it.

In fact, one could probably count Toph as full-blown wary as she made her way to the alleyway that had been described.

. . . After all, the request had come from the one turtle ninja she had beef with.

She wasn't looking forward to the meeting with Mike, but the request also wasn't one she could easily refuse -- a request to help find Leonardo's sword . . . a sword that had disappeared during the year that everyone apparently had gotten stuck in the Dreaming, commandeered by the kedan in their game of "finders-keepers." She owed Leo this, as far as she was concerned; the sword belonged in the hands of people who knew him, not some priss-nosed little kedan with a stick up his butt.

For that reason, Toph had agreed to circumvent her misgivings and meet Mike in the alley. Arms sliding into a cross, she leaned up against the stone of the nearby wall. Waiting.

E. Closed to Jackie - "Heads up!" The voice came as a snap not far from Jackie's elbow as its owner barreled past -- near enough to brush Jackie's clothing on the way by. The owner, from the glimpse he might catch, was a tiny girl with a mass of thick, dark hair, bare feet nearly soundless on the earth in spite of her speed. "Move it."

Just barely avoiding Jackie, she sprinted off towards the alley on the opposite side of the street, heading towards its shadows.

Jackie might have avoided collision once, but he or anyone with him might not be so lucky with what came after her. With little more than a breath, two kedan tore after her, so intent on their prize that they couldn't quite manage the tight twist it took to avoid, heading for impact.

F. Want to rp something else? Come to me! PM or find me on Plurk -- I'm glad to talk and set something up. <3

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

. . . Well, you didn't expect her to stop just because of that, did you, Jackie? The girl didn't even spare a glance over her shoulder as she darted into the alley -- didn't even slow a step.

The two kedan, though, were another story. Running into Jackie messed up their trajectories a bit, and one stumbled, not quite regaining his balance, slamming into the wall to one side of the alley, going down hard. The glaze of his eyes said he probably wouldn't be moving much for a while.

The other bounced off one of the inner walls with a curse that probably could have melted ears, barely recovering as he did his best to regain pursuit.

Jackie stumbled after the girl and the kedan. One of the pursuers was down for the count, but the other...well, there was definitely a chase afoot. And he thought he'd seen the girl around - a Foreigner? Either way...he thought about his duties as a Snake, to keep the peace, such as it was, and decided to go after them.

What could possibly go wrong?

They both had a bit of a lead on him as they darted down the alley, and he struggled to catch up.

Never ask what could possibly go wrong. That's like inviting the universe to come smite you.

The chase twisted through alleys and streets, complex as a maze, until the number of kedan dwindled, nearly died out entirely.

And that was when, in the confines of an alley, the kedan in front of him suddenly went down with a yelp, doubled in half by a brick to the gut.

If Jackie's reflexes weren't good, he might soon find one following with his name on it.

Jackie never did have very good luck.

The brick nabs him square in the gut, and he goes down, clutching his stomach.

"Ow, jeez, man, what's your problem?" he wheezed.

"Are you going to be smart enough to quit following me?" The girl has slid into a ready stance, feet bare, braced against the stone. She's small and far too dirty, her features obscured by a layer of dust and the thick, heavy hair that falls across her face, bound into a braid down her back. "Or are you going to need another one to get it out of your head?"

The kedan is definitely down for the count, wheezing and trying hard to catch his breath. The words are for Jackie; he hasn't tried to take down the kedan after her, so he's not a friend, and if he's chasing her, he's not without interest in the situation, either.

Jackie groans. That sure was going to bruise. "No, I'm good, I'm good," he wheezes. "I just wanted to see what the trouble was, I'm supposed to help keep the peace and all! Ow..."

". . . stole from us." This is the weakened thread wafting from the other kedan, coming between gasps. "Stole . . ."

Follow that up with a boatload of coughing and groaning.

The girl pffts a layer of hair briefly off her face as though snorting at the idea. She stands down, though, evidently satisfied that for the moment they're both too winded to give chase -- though from her body language, it also doesn't look like she means to stay. She's dispatched them both; her way out of the confrontation is clear.

Jackie struggles to his feet, his gut still hurting and still sounding winded. "Hey, c'mon, you can't...steal from kedan, we're supposed to be...like, I dunno, mending fences...or something."

A+ negotiation skills, Jackie. He takes a second to gulp in more air.

He taps his Snake badge, which works really well talking to a blind girl, let me tell you. "Look, I ain't gonna narc on you, 'cause I'm no snitch, but...don't do it again, okay? You're gonna make some people really pissed."

The girl's eyebrows shoot up at that, and she pauses, seemingly unable to quite resist replying. "Kind of big talk for a guy who just got taken out by a blind girl and who can barely stand up. I'll bite -- who are you supposed to be?"

Her head tilts. "Also, kind of a good idea to ask for a story before jumping to conclusions, isn't it? Why don't you ask Mr. Clean Hands over here where he got the money?"

There's a half breath of pause -- before the kedan wheezes extra strongly as though to try and draw attention to the fact that hey, he's wounded.

Jackie scowls, but with Toph's revelation that she is in fact blind, he feels a little sheepish. She caught him by surprise, okay?

He is literally no good at this law enforcement thing. "I don't think he c'n really talk right now," he notes. "What the hell is going on?"

Don't feel too bad, Jackie. She catches a lot of people by surprise. Actually, that's one of the things she enjoys doing most.

Toph snorts again in the direction of the kedan, because it's so an act. "Pretty convenient, if you ask me. You're familiar with Dust, right?"

Jackie nods, a little warily, and then realizes she can't see him. "Uh, yeah, yeah, I remember when that stuff was all over. Terrible shit."

Putting it mildly, Jackster.

But he's on his guard, because he remembers that Dogeyes had started Mimi using, and that had eventually killed her, and he had to be pissed about that, because Wei was his best friend and Wei's sister had been killed by drugs. Sure, the Sun On Yee still did drug-running, but that didn't mean Jackie'd had to like it.

"This guy was dealing it." Toph's shoulders lift. "Him and the other guy -- so I just took the money they took off someone else. So I guess if you're asking if I'm stealing . . ." A flash of a grin. "I guess it depends on what you think stealing is."

Toph, please don't get all philosophical on him. He's not the brightest crayon in the box.

Still, he looks at the kedan on the ground with no small amount of distaste. "Oh yeah?"

As long as it detracts him from her role in this (though it is true), melting his wax is good with her.

"Pretty much." The grin remains, verging on cocky -- because she's enjoying this whole thing now just a little too much. (It helps that the kedan on the ground has attempted pretending to pass out to increase the sympathy for his condition.)

"Who'd you say you were, again?"

He hadn't, and she knows it. But it's a prompt. He's awfully nosy to just be anyone. (And, well, she definitely didn't catch that badge tap before.)

Ain't you a stinker, Toph.

"Jackie Ma. I'm with the Snakes." The only Foreigner to have fallen in with Yunxu's crowd, as a matter of fact. "Who're you?"

Like she's gonna tell him, probably. He can ask around about a blind chick who uses magic to throw bricks and stuff, though, that'll narrow it down.

Totally a stinker. As much as possible. As proof, that grin only increases.

"Pretty sure you'll figure it out eventually, considering." After all, Foreigners are a limited population, and blind ones are even more limited in number. If he's as nosy as he has been, too, he'll go looking for her. "But considering I just pinched money off a guy who I'm not buying is actually unconscious, I'm not just handing out my name."

Her head tilts. "Snakes, though -- that's pretty interesting. You actually follow those guys?"

Figured it wouldn't be that easy.

Jackie glances down at the kedan, who is really trying hard to fake unconsciousness. "Fair point, I guess. And yeah, I do." The fact that he's starting to think he wants out of the Snakes, he keeps to himself. "It pays pretty good, and it's the kinda work I'm used to," he says, and now he sounds a little defensive. He's had it with people trying to do the 'but whyyyy' on him, so he's heading it off now.

But it's not the question she asks. Actually, she doesn't ask any question at all, merely looking thoughtful. "Not a bad way to have your ear to the ground, either."

Meaning that she's tucked this information away for later . . . and will probably be interested in feeling him out more when there isn't an over-dramatic kedan with his tongue hanging out between the two of them.

"I probably should get going before his friend figures out where he went. Sorry about the whole brick to the stomach thing."

There's a playful smirk to that that says she's probably not completely sorry, but. Her stinker nature has already been defined.

He shrugs. Sure, it gives him info, but he's low-level enough that it's nothing of too much use. But he is Valdis' contact in the Snakes, so maybe he's not as worthless as he thinks.

"Uh...apology accepted?"

This whole interaction has been nothing but weird.

If he'd pointed that out, she'd point out they were living on the back of a giant turtle, yanked out of their homes and relying on gems to keep their souls in place . . . what wasn't weird at that point? "Weird" is par for the course.

But he hasn't, and she doesn't.

"Catch you around." And twisting, she's off in a trot, leaving him to deal with the not-so-faint kedan.

He's caught her interest . . . so he'll likely be seeing her again.

Maybe cleaner.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

May catch-all

no subject

no subject

no subject

why did this notif never show up for me. dammit dreamwidth

/shakes fist

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject